1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a viewing angle control element, a method of manufacturing the same, a liquid crystal display device, and an electronic apparatus, and particularly, to a viewing angle control element having a switching function between a wide viewing angle and a narrow viewing angle and to a liquid crystal display device equipped with the same.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, liquid crystal display devices have a problem in that a viewing angle is narrow. Therefore, in recent years, it is demanded a liquid crystal display device having a wide viewing angle. Particularly, liquid crystal display devices used for a television, a car navigation apparatus, a digital camera, etc., which are viewed by many people need to have the wide viewing angle. Meanwhile, it is demanded a structure in which other people do not peek at a user's display screen. In this case, the liquid crystal display devices need to have a narrow viewing angle. For example, when the liquid crystal display devices are used for notebook personal computers or mobile phones that are generally used at a public place, such a narrow viewing angle function is required. In recent years, it has been strongly demanded that a display device should perform the switching of a viewing angle between a wide viewing angle and a narrow viewing angle according to the method of use as in a case in which a user watches a television program using a notebook personal computer or plays a computer game using a mobile phone.
In order to meet the above-mentioned demands, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-174489 proposes a liquid crystal display device provided with a liquid crystal element for display and a liquid crystal element for phase difference control to change a viewing angle characteristic by controlling a voltage applied to the liquid crystal element for phase difference control. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-174489, chiral nematic liquid crystal, homogeneous liquid crystal, nematic liquid crystal having random alignment, or the like is used as a liquid crystal mode for the liquid crystal element for phase difference control.